Interlocking brick and wall produced therewith



July 2, 1935. s. F. BROOKS INTERLOCKING BRICK AND WALL PRODUCED THEREWITH Filed Feb. 18, 1951 FIG. I FIG. 4

FIG. 2 F'IG.3

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FIG. 5

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INVENTOR.

Samuel E Br oKs.

BY 5M4) A TTORNEY.

Patented July 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i;

INTERLOCKING BRICK AND WALL '1 v PRODUCED THEREWITH Samuel F. Brooks, Indianapolis, Ind. Application'February 18, 1931, Serial No. 516,596 Claims. (01. 72 37) My'invention relates to fire brick and walls made with such fire brick. It relates more in particular to an interlocking type of brick and the wall produced therewith. p I

I In producing substantially all typesof boiler and heating furnace sidewalls, bridge walls'and the like, it is customary to form the wall of substantially standard shaped fire brick, which is either of an interlocking or non-locking type. It may be said, however, that the interlocking type of fire brick has not been sufiiciently satisfactory to warrant its use on a large scale, and that in most installations it will now be'found that a standard type of non-locking brick is used. I have found that fire brick walls seldom burn out, but that most of them bulge and eventually will have to be wholly or partially replaced, due to the bulging, and sometimes this bulging reaches to such proportions that a part of the wall falls out but usually the condition will not be allowed to remain a sufiiciently long time to cause this result.

The principal object of my present invention is the provision of a furnace wall which will not bulge.

Another object is the provision of a brick adapted for use in such a wall, which can be standardized' in such a way as to be used on all types of work.

Another object is the provision of a brick of this kind, which can be used on the stretcher courses as well as on the header courses.

Another object is the provision of a brick of this kind, which can be handled and laid in substantially the usual ways now employed in the art.

Another object is the provision of a brick of this character'which is simply and cheaply manufactured, and which can be used with any of the usual types of bonding material such as fire clay batter, cement orthe like.

According to the general principles of my invention, I employ a brick, slotted on its top and bottom faces, with slots running across each other in both directions, so that the slots may be aligned horizontally or parallel to the furnace wall, but may be kept out of alignment'in planes running perpendicular to the fire wall. In general this permits movement of the bricks by expansion, in the direction in whichthe greatest expansion occurs, namely, longitudinally of the courses, but locks the brick in the direction which the brick has to move to cause the bulging. 7

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following detail description, taken with the accompanying draw n wherein,

forming part of a header course, bricks 23 com- Fig. l is a plan view showing the preferred brick construction used in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof,

Fig. 3 is an end view, 5-

Fig. 4 is a perspective View, Fig. 5 is a plan view of a. part. of a structed with the brick, g

Fig. -6 shows the same wallportion as Fig. 5 in elevation, and

Fig. '7 is a side elevational view thereof. Referring to the drawing, reference will first be made to the brick shown in Figs. 1 to 4, which is the preferred form which this member takes in practicing my invention. The brick comprises a brick body I!) of standard brick dimensions having transverse grooves or recesses II and I2, and longitudinal grooves or recesses 13 and I4. The grooves crossin the manner shown, thus communicating with each other. Identical wall con-'.

grooves are provided on the opposite side of the brick, the transverse grooves being indicated by the characters l6 and I7, and the longitudinal grooves by the characters [8 and I9.

Thepurpose of the grooves is to permit bond- 25 ing between the bricks by use of cement, fire f clay'batter or the like. I have found that the bricks should be bonded longitudinally of the fire wall face, but should not be bonded perpendicularly thereto. ed out. In general it may be said, however, that the grooves shown are provided to secure this result. The maximum bonding is desired in one plane with no bonding whatsoever in the oppo site plane.

I shall now refer to Figs. 5 to? showing a portion of a furnace wall, which may of course be a side wall, bridge wall or any type of refractory wall used in or with or forming part of a heating furnace or boiler. In the hottest part of 40 the wall it is customary to lay three header courses followed by one stretchercourse, repeat ing three header courses, and thenone stretcher, etc., until the relatively cooler partsof the wall are reached, where it is customary to lay stretcher courses with an occasional header course between'them. The brick arrangement of Figs. 5 and '7 is not intended to indicate any particular portion of the fire wall, but is simply arranged in the manner shown to facilitate the explanation of the invention.

I shall refer first to the bricks making up the courses, the first row shown comprising bricks 2], this being part of a header course, bricks 22'also prising a stretcher course, and 24 a single brick 5 The reasons for this will bepoint- 3Q may use any of 2 of a stretcher course. These reference characters are employed throughout the three views to show the arrangement of the bricks. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the hot wall face of the furnace wall. In this figure it will be seen that on neither the header courses nor stretcher courses are the grooves in the adjoining horizontal faces of bricks in alignment perpendicular to the wall. As a result there is no interlocking between grooves of adjacent superimposed brick in a line perpendicular to the hot wall face of the furnace, but interlocking or bonding occurs only in a plane parallel to the face of the wall.

Referring to Fig. '7, it will be seen that the grooves running longitudinal of the courses are aligned when the bricks are laid in the normal way in both the stretcher and header courses customary in the art. No particular skill or technique is required to secure this result. It is secured by the very nature of the brick and the construction of the grooves therein.

It is customary now to lay brick in furnace walls. substantially without bonding material so that a brick to brick wall is obtained. It has been determined that in most cases this is the most satisfactory. In order to obtain a proper interlocking or bonding between the bricks in the longitudinal grooves, it is of course necessary thatlsome form of bonding material be used. I the usual bonding materials, such as furnace cement, fire clay batter, or the like;

Any suitable technique may be used for filling the grooves with cement, but the character of the grooves permits the use of a process which is very economical and quick and which I prefer. The fire clay or batter is prepared relatively thin and the brick is dipped into the thin bonding material, the material sticking in the grooves, filling the same without the necessity of trowelling. Due to the small character of the grooves this is possible, whereas if the grooves were large, trowelling probably would be required. The brick is then placed in position in its course and is tamped down until it forms a substantially brick to brick joint with the lower course, a layer of bonding material of paper-like thickness resulting. This can be done away with entirely by wiping the face of the brick with a trowel or other instrument, but a very thin layer of bonding material, such as fire clay batter, I have found is not detrimental and gives substantially the same beneficialresults as laying the courses brick to brick without bond.

As to the advantage of the brick arrangement in overcoming bulging of furnace walls, it must first be considered that the greatest expansion of the brick is longitudinally of the courses. There is a vertical expansion also, of course, but this is not of prime importance in connection with bulging, and can be disregarded. Since there is considerable expansion longitudinally of the courses, it follows that this expansion will be greater in the hotter portions of the wall than in the cooler portions. Accordingly, there will be portions where the bricks will have to have some slight longitudinal movement with respect to each other, or the bulging would be increased rather than decreased. It follows then that if the bricks were interlocked in planes perpendicular to the wall face, bulging would be greatly increased rather than decreased. This is one of the principal reasons why the interlocking or bonding of bricks heretofore has not been satisfactory. By interlocking or bonding the bricks longitudinally of the courses, however, relative movement between the bricks perpendicular to the wall face, will so resist movement of the bricks with respect to each other that bulging to a very large extent will be prevented entirely.

It will be understood from a consideration of the drawing that both the header and stretcher courses are locked in this manner. Where header and stretcher courses come together there is a very small interlocking portion where the grooves cross, the interlocking portion of bonding material being substantially square and having ap-' proximately the same dimensions as the width of the grooves. As a matter of fact, the dimensions will be less than the width of the grooves, because some shrinking of the bonding material will result when the wall is heated. This small portion of bonding material will shear in the normal longitudinal expansion of the courses and will not be a bar to the free expansion obtained by my arrangement, which free expansion contributes to remove the bulging characteristics rather than to increase them.

One of the advantages of the arrangement shown is that only a single shape of brick is necessary for both the stretcher and header courses. In other words, it is only necessary to carry one brick in stock, and this serves for all purposes in constructing fire walls of various kinds. I am aware that tongue and groove connections have been suggested for obtaining somewhat the same general effect, but the tongue and groove construction is not satisfactory, because it requires special forms of brick, the tongues frequently break off in shipment and there are many other disadvantages well understood by those skilled in the art.

I wish also to call attention to the arrangement of the grooves in the faces of the bricks for securing the advantageous interlocking results described. Consulting Fig. 6, it will be seen that the transverse grooves l I and I2 are so placed on the bricks that when the bricks are laid in stretcher courses in the ordinary manner, the grooves will not be in alignment and so an interlocking result will not be obtained. This is shown between the bricks 23 and the brick 24. However, it will be seen that these grooves are in alignment when the bricks are laid in header courses, as shown by the rows 2| and 22 in Fig. 7. Specifically, this result is obtained in a brick twice as long as it is wide, wherein grooves I l and I2 are spaced an equal distance from the respective adjacent ends of the brick as seen looking at Fig. 1. This distance is slightly less than one quarter the length of the brick. Two grooves l3 and 14 are provided longitudinally of the bricks (similar grooves I Sand I!) are of course on the opposite side) these two longitudinal grooves being spaced at equal distances from an imaginary center line running through the brick longitudinally, and groove l3 for instance being spaced away from the top edge of the brick in Fig. 1 a distance equal to the distance groove l I is spaced away from the left hand edge of the brick. Groove 14 is similarly spaced with respect to the lower edge. It is clear that when these bricks are laid in header courses, the grooves I3 and M in the bricks will not coincide to form locking means perpendicular to the fire wall. Moreover, neither one of the grooves coincides with the space between two bricks in a contiguous row. This makes it impossible for bonding material in one of the grooves to spread into the space between bricks in contiguous rows, whereby the effect of an interlocking perpendicular joint might be obtained. Where stretcher and header courses come together, however, it is desired to have a longitudinal interlocking means, and this is provided as shown in Fig. '7, because one of the longitudinal grooves l9 comes into alignment with the transverse groove ll. Accordingly, it

will be seen that the specific arrangement of the thereof, and longitudinal grooves disposed on each side of a longitudinal center line, with each spaced a distance from the adjacent side edge equal to the distance which the transverse grooves are each spaced away from the adjacent end, whereby when said bricks are laid stretcher course to stretcher course, header course to header course, or header course to stretcher course, there will be coinciding grooves in bricks of successive superimposed courses, coinciding in a direction parallel to the face of the wall but no coinciding grooves perpendicular to the face of the wall.

2. A brick for use in a furnace wall to prevent bulging thereof and adapted for laying in either a header or a stretcher course, said brick having a top and bottom surface, two transverse grooves on said top and said bottom surface with each groove spaced away from the adjacent edge of the brick a distance slightly less than one quarter the length thereof so that said transverse grooves will coincide in a direction parallel to the face of the wall when the bricks are placed one above the other in header courses but will not coincide when the bricks are placed one above the other in the customary manner in stretcher courses.

3. An oblong fire brick which is twice as long as it is wide, having a top surface and a bottom surface only grooved with interconnecting transverse and longitudinal grooves, with said transverse grooves each spaced a distance from the adjacent end of the brick equal to slightly less than one quarter the length of the brick, and the longitudinal grooves each spaced a distance from the adjacent edge of the brick equal to the transverse groove spacing, whereby when said bricks are laid in superimposed courses in a furnace Wall, only a portion of said grooves of adjacent.

superimposed bricks will be coincident, and such grooves will be coincident only in a direction par allel to the face of the wall. I

4. A straight-faced six-sided fire brick for use in a furnace wall, said brick being twice as long as it is wide, interconnecting longitudinal and transverse, shallow, round grooves in the top and bottom faces only of said brick, with said longitudinal grooves positioned on said faces and each at a distance from the adjacent edge equal to slightly less than one quarter the length of the brick, and each transverse groove at a like distance from the adjacent edge, with said grooves adapted to carry an. amount of mortar such as to provide interlocking between adjacent faces of superimposed bricks over the length of a groove in a longitudinal direction only, when said bricks are laid in the customary manner in a furnace wall.

5. A straight faced six-sided fire brick for use in a furnace wall, with said brick being twice as long as it is wide and having grooves only on the top face and on the bottom face thereof cooperating to provide interlocking between adjacent faces of superimposed bricks in the furnace wall, said grooves including a pair of transverse grooves on each of said faces each spaced a distance from the adjacent end a distance equal to slightly less than one quarter the length of the brick, and a pair of longitudinal grooves interconnecting the transverse grooves each spaced slightly away from a longitudinal center line and at a distance from the adjacent side of the brick equal to the spacing of a transverse groove from the end of the brick.

SAMUEL F. BROOKS. 

